Like the majority of Colorado communities, Moffat County voted by a landslide against the passage of Amendment 66.

The outcome from Tuesday’s elections saw 77 percent of county voters, more than 3,000, cast their votes against the proposed legislation, which would have created a two-tiered tax increase intended to raise nearly $1 billion annually for the purpose of school funding across the state.

A mere 900 voters in the area voted for the amendment. Moffat County School District administration estimated that they would have seen about 2.88 million per year from the effort.

Superintendent Joe Petrone said he found the local response to be disappointing but also not surprising given the measures of the legislation.

“It’s a tough economy for a lot of people,” he said. “That money would have helped us, but we’ll just roll up our sleeves and keep doing what we do. We’ve got to plan looking forward.”

Petrone said he believed part of the reason the amendment failed was the ballot language, which did not help voters who were on the fence feel comfortable about voting in favor of 66.

Moffat County Commissioner John Kinkaid said the fact that 66 was presented to the public as a constitutional amendment was a negative element from the beginning.

“You never, ever want to put something like that in the Constitution,” he said.

Kinkaid said the defeat of Amendment 66 will ease the burden on state taxpayers, as well as provide an example for businesses looking to relocate to Colorado.

“It’ll show them that we’re competitive and that they don’t have to worry about having such high taxes here,” he said.

Kinkaid cited the slogan “raise expectations, not taxes” as one that demands excellence at the local level for schools regardless of funding, adding that no matter what a school district’s budget, positive results come from hard work by teachers and students.

Craig Mayor Terry Carwile also weighed in on the outcome of the Amendment 66 debate.

“The outcome of that one simply says to me that folks want to do it a different way, but the issues surrounding insufficient funding in the state are still going to haunt us,” he said.

Andy Bockelman can be reached at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com.